MILFORD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nitto Denko Avecia Inc. (Avecia), today announced it has entered into a
definitive agreement to acquire the assets of Irvine Pharmaceutical
Services (Irvine) and Avrio Biopharmaceuticals (Avrio), both located in
Irvine, CA. Irvine is a leading analytical development services provider
and Avrio is a premier cGMP parenteral contract manufacturing
organization. Avecia will consolidate both businesses into the newly
established company, Nitto Avecia Pharma Services.

The acquisitions of Irvine and Avrio, which are expected to be completed
in October, will significantly boost Avecia’s analytical capabilities
and complement its oligonucleotide drug substance services. “We are
excited to work with Irvine and Avrio’s founder, Dr. Assad Kazeminy, a
recognized leader in the industry for more than 30 years,” said Detlef
Rethage, president of Nitto Denko Avecia. “Together, we will work to
realize the synergies between the three businesses by offering seamless
outsourcing solutions for the benefit of our customers, including
oligonucleotide drug substance, drug product, analytical development and
related services.”

“With our strong customer base developed and maintained for nearly 30
years in the cGMP contract development and manufacturing arena, we
believe that Irvine and Avrio are a perfect fit with Nitto Avecia Pharma
Service’s innovative business model,” said Dr. Assad Kazeminy, CEO and
Founder of Irvine Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. and Avrio
Biopharmaceuticals, LLC. “This combination provides an exciting
expansion of breadth of capabilities and depth of expertise to support
the growing needs of the pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical and medical
device industries.”

ABOUT NITTO DENKO AVECIA INC.

Nitto Denko Avecia Inc. is a recognized leader in therapeutic nucleic
acid manufacturing and development services with facilities located in
Milford, Mass.; Marlboro, Mass.; and Cincinnati offering services for
DNA, RNA and other oligonucleotides based therapeutics from milligram
scale at pre-clinical stage to 1000kg + post commercial launch. More
information: www.Avecia.com.
Nitto Denko Avecia is proud member of Nitto Group. More information: www.Nitto.com

ABOUT IRVINE PHARMACEUTICAL SERVICES

Irvine Pharmaceutical Service Inc. is a premier contract development and
manufacturing organization providing support to the pharmaceutical,
biopharmaceutical, and medical device industries. Irvine provides full
cGMP specialized product development service such as
preformulation/formulation, analytical development, parenteral
manufacturing, stability storage and complete analytical CMC testing.
More information: www.irvinepharma.com

ABOUT AVRIO BIOPHARMACEUTICALS

Irvine's affiliate, Avrio Biopharmaceuticals, is a cGMP contract
development and manufacturing organization supporting the pharmaceutical
and biopharmaceutical industries from Phase I through post-market life
cycle management. With a state-of-the-art facility, experienced staff,
and robust quality infrastructure, Avrio delivers client-centric
solutions in a timely manner. More information: www.avriobiopharma.com